Toggle necklock

ABSTRACT

A bottle dispenser mounted on the open end of a bottle has a rotatable threaded shaft extending into the neck of the bottle with a toggle nut threaded onto the shaft for combined rotation and translation movement and a pair of oppositely extending wings pivotally mounted on the toggle nut. The wings are expanded to engage the inner surface of the bottle neck and the shaft rotated so that the toggle nut moves therealong to lockingly engage the expanded wing members against the inner surface of the bottle neck.

1451 Feb. 26, 1974 4] TOGGLE NECKLOCK FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONSHoward C. Valle, Doylestown, Pa. 2

234,486 5/1911 Germany 215/98 [75] Inventor:

Auto Bar Systems Corporation, New York, NY.

[73] Assignee:

Primary Examiner-Robert B. Reeves Assistant Examiner-Thomas E. Kocovsky22 Filed: Apr.'5, 1972 21 Appl. No.: 241,472

Attorney, Agent, or Firm -Brumbaugh, Graves, Donohue.& Raymond T C m S BA H 5 0 7 w 8 2 m m D8 o or 6 0 k '0 D. N r ne SS M mm -0 .mn m m t n OC 1 3 6 A bottle dispenser mounted on the open end of a bottle has arotatable threaded shaft extending into the abandoned.

[52] us CLMLUW neck of the bottle with a toggle nut threaded onto the 51Int. Cl............::...13..........................-B67d 5/32 Shaft forrtatineand mvemem 581 Field of Search.... 222/153; 85/3; 215/9, 98, 73}a P extending wings Pivmally mounted on the toggle nut. The wings areexpanded to engage the inner surface of the bottle neck and the shaftrotated so that the toggle nut moves therealong to lockingly engage theexpanded wing members against the inner surface of the bottle neck.

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 85/3 S 1 Claim, 7 DrawingFigures 2,559,815 7/1951 Woodward... 2,721,005 10/1955 Leswick......1,694,493 12/1928 Tomkinson............................

PATENTEDFEBZEW 3,794,220

sum 2 or 2 '.F|G,4 Y;

INVENTOR //o MflRQ C 1491.461

7 I a f'i X V ATTORNEYS TOGGLE NECKLOCK I This-is a continuation,division, of application Ser. No. 6,428 filed .Ian'. 28, 1970 nowabandoned.

In order to dispense. measured or predetermined quantities of liquidfrom a bottle, various forms of liquid disp'ensers have been devised formounting on the open end of the bottle. Such a dispenser is locked uponthe bottle by means of'a necklock assembly or other form of bottleclosure anchorage which generally extends into the neck of thebottle andis lockingly engaged against the inner surface of the bottle neck. Suchdispensers can only be removed by means of a special key or tool whichis not available to the bartender or the waiter who is dispensing theliquids. The anchoring or necklock assembly generally comprises someform of expansible structure which is lockingly engaged against theinterior surface of the bottle neck and cannot be released therefromexcept by means of a special tool or key. One form of such an anchoringstructure comprises a pair of wing members pivotally mounted on amounting block threaded upon a shaft extending into the bottole neck.The pivotal mounting of these expandable wing members hastended to becomplex, and hence, has added significantly to the cost of manufacturingsuch dispensers. Since these dispensers are used in large quantities inbars, hotels, restaurants and the like, various attempts have been madeto simplify and improve the anchoring structure.

One of the objects of the present invention is to provide an improvednecklock assembly for a liquid dispenser of the type which is mounted ontheend of a bottle containing the liquid to be dispensed.

Another of the objects of the present invention is to provide animproved structure-for pivotally mounting a pair of wing members whichare expanded into locking engagement with the interior surface of thebottle neck.

According to one aspect of the invention, a liquid dis- I penser adaptedto be mounted on the end of a bottle containing liquid to be dispensedis provided with a necklock assembly which includes a cap assemblyadapted to be mounted on the open end of the bottle. An elongated memberis rotatably mounted in the cap assembly and extends into the neck ofabottle when the dispenser is mounted on the bottle. A toggle nut ismounted on the elongated member for combined rotation about andtranslation therealong. The toggle nut is provided with oppositelyextending lateral arms with a pair of oppositely extending wing membersbeing pivotally mounted on these lateral arms. The wing members arepivotable between an expanded position to engage the inner surface ofthe bottle neck and a contracted position against the elongated memberpointed toward the open end of the bottle. Each of the wing members isprovided with means engageable with the elongated member for limitirigthe pivoting movement into the expanded position. The connection betweenthe toggle nut and the elongated member is such that relativeroinvention will be apparent from the accompanying description anddrawings, which are merely exemplary.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a vertical sectional view of the open end of a bottle and aliquid dispenser mounted on the open end provided with a necklockassembly;

FIG. 2 is an end view taken in the direction of the line 2-2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional view of the toggle'assembly showing thewing members intermediate between the expanded and contracted positions;

Proceeding next tothe drawings wherein like reference symbols indicatethe same parts throughout the 1 various views, a specific embodiment ofthe present invention will be described in detail.

A liquid dispenser having a necklock assembly according to the presentinvention is indicated'generally at 10 in FIG. 1 and may comprise a capassembly including a bottlecap or closure 11 and a cap .engaging member12 secured together by screws such as 13. One form of a dispenser withwhich the invention can be used is illustrated in U. S. Pat. No.2,559,8l5. A slide 14 having an opening 15 therein is slidably mountedbetween the closure 11 and cap 12 for-preventing the dispensing of theliquid from the bottle when in closed position. The slide 14 ispositioned between upper and lower gaskets 16.

The cap assembly is sealingly mounted in an open end 17 ofa bottlehaving a neck 18 by means ofa tubuing and is surrounded by a sleeve seal20.

The necklock assembly comprises a threaded shaft 21 having one end 22rotatably mounted in a sleeve 23 mounted within the central opening ofthe cap assembly by a plurality of radial flanges 24. The extreme end ofthe shaft is provided with a nut 25 having a special shape orconfiguration so as to be engageable by a tool 26 (FIG. 7) and having anopen end 27 to receive nut 25.

Mounted upon the threaded shaft 21 within the interior of the bottle isa toggle assembly indicated generally at 28 in FIGS. 3 and 4 andcomprising a toggle nut 29 shown in greater detail in FIG. 5. The nut 29has a threaded bore 30 through which passes the threaded shaft 21 andalso a pairof oppositely extending lateral arms 31. A pair of wingmembers 32 and 33 each have a substantially U-shaped cross section. Bothwing mem-- bers 32 and 33 are identical in construction with the wingmember 33, for example, being provided with opposed openings 34 whichreceive the lateral arms 31 of the toggle nut so that the wing member ispivotally mounted on this toggle nut. In a similar manner, the wingmember 32 is also pivotally mounted on the arms of the toggle nut.

The ends of wing members 32 and 33 are provided with upturned extensions35 each having threaded portions 36 to closely engage threads on theshaft 21.

The wing members have a contacted position as indicated by the dot-dashlines at 37 in'FIG. 1 in which position the wing members point towardthe open end of the bottle. In their fully expanded positions, the wingmember extensions 35 engage the shaft in the manner shown in FIG. 4; Thewing members are so dimensioned that when in their contracted positionas indicated at 37 in FIG. 1, they will pass through the bottle opening.Since the wing members are freely pivotable about the toggle nut, theycan be pivoted to the contracted position as the end of the shaft 21 isinserted into the bottle neck as the first step in mounting this liquiddispenser upon the bottle. As the wing members move into the graduallyexpanding neck of the bottle, they can be pivotally moved to theirexpanded position under their own weight as the bottle is held inupright position until the ends of the wing members contact the innersurface of the bottle neck as shown in either FIG. 3 or FIG. 4.

In order to lock the dispenser into position, tool 26 of FIG. 7 can beused to rotate shaft 21 so as to cause the toggle nut to move'upwardlytoward the end of the bottle. This upward movement causes the wingmembers to become locked with their ends against the inner surface ofthe bottle neck, and thus, withdrawal of the dispenser from the bottleis prevented.

It will be understood that various details of construction andarrangement of parts may be made without departing from the spirit ofthe invention except as defined in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In apparatus for dispensing liquid from a bottle having a relativelynarrow neck portion adjacent its open end, said apparatus includingliquid dispenser means releasably engageable with a necklock assemblysecured to the bottle, an improved necklock assembly comprising:

a. a cap assembly adapted for mounting on the open end of the bottle,said cap assembly having means for engaging said liquid dispenser means;

b. an elongated, threaded member rotatably mounted adjacent one end insaid cap assembly and extending into the neck ofthe bottle when the capassembly is mounted on the bottle, the end of the elongated memberreceived in said cap assembly having a configurated means thereonadapted to be received in a complementarily co'nfigurated tool forrotating said elongated member about its longitudi nal axis; and

c. a toggle assembly comprising 4 i. a nut having oppositely extendinglateral arms and being threadedly mountedon said elongated member sothat relative rotation between said nut and said elongated member causesthe nut to longitudinally traverse the elongated member; and ii. twooppositely extending wing members, each pivotally mounted adjacent oneend on said lat- 'eral arms for pivotal movement under the influence ofgravity between a retracted position, longitudinally adjacent saidelongated member with its free end directed toward the open end of thebottle, and an expanded position, angularly spaced from said elongatedmember and generally perpendicular to the inner surface of the neck ofthe bottle, and having threaded means adjacent its pivot end forreleasably engaging the elongated member and limiting the pivotal movement of said wing member into its expanded position, I said wingmembers, when mounted on 'said elongated member and in said retractedposition, presenting maximum dimensions transverse to said elongatedmember smaller than the inner dimensions of the neck of the bottle so asto be able to pass therethrough, and further said wing members coactingwith said nut and said elongated member such that longitudinal movement'of the nut along the elongated member toward the open end of the bottlecauses the free end of each wing member, when in its expanded position,to lockingly engage the inner surface of the neck of the bottle andfurther causes the threaded means adjacent the pivot end of each wingmember to engage the elongated member and secure the free end of eachwing member against the inner surface of the bottle, and reverselongitudinal movement of the nut causes the free end of each wing memberto disengage said bottle surface and permits said wing member to pivotto its retracted position, when the bottle is inverted, thereby allowingthe necklock assembly to be removed from the bottle with the toggleassembly still mounted on the elongated member and without breaking thebottle.

fl 22 33 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE I CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION irate:No. 3,794',2 2 0 I Dated February 26, 197 4 Inventor, .Heward C. Valle ncertified that error a ipears in the above-identified pat ent and thatsaid Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

1 Col. 1, line 2 division," should read -appl icatibn- Col. 1, line 23,"bottole" should read -bottle--.; and,

Col. 2, line 66, "contacted" should read contracted- Signed and sealedthis 2nd. day of July 1974.

(SEAL) Attest EDWARD M. FLETCHER ,JR. c .'MA13sH1 xLL DANN v AttestingOfficer Comm-1ss1one-1 0f Patents

1. In apparatus for dispensing liquid from a bottle having a relativelynarrow neck portion adjacent its open end, said apparatus includingliquid dispenser means releasably engageable with a necklock assemblysecured to the bottle, an improved necklock assembly comprising: a. acap assembly adapted for mounting on the open end of the bottle, saidcap assembly having means for engaging said liquid dispenser means; b.an elongated, threaded member rotatably mounted adjacent one end in saidcap assembly and extending into the neck of the bottle when the capassembly is mounted on the bottle, the end of the elongated memberreceived in said cap assembly having a configurated means thereonadapted to be received in a complementarily configurated tool forrotating said elongated member about its longitudinal axis; and c. atoggle assembly comprising i. a nut having oppositely extending lateralarms and being threadedly mounted on said elongated member so thatrelative rotation between said nut and said elongated member causes thenut to longitudinally traverse the elongated member; and ii. twooppositely extending wing members, each pivotally mounted adjacent oneend on said lateral arms for pivotal movement under the influence ofgravity between a retracted position, longitudinally adjacent saidelongated member with its free end directed toward the open end of thebottle, and an expanded position, angularly spaced from said elongatedmember and generally perpendicular to the inner surface of the neck ofthe bottle, and having threaded means adjacent its pivot end forreleasably engaging the elongated member and limiting the pivotalmovement of said wing member into its expanded position, said wingmembers, when mounted on said elongated member and in said retractedposition, presenting maximum dimensions transverse to said elongatedmember smaller than the inner dimensions of the neck of the bottle so asto be able to pass therethrough, and further said wing members coactingwith said nut and said elongated member such that longitudinal movementof the nut along the elongated member toward the open end of the bottlecauses the free end of each wing member, when in its expanded position,to lockingly engage the inner surface of the neck of the bottle andfurther causes the threaded means adjacent the pivot end of each wingmember to engage the elongated member and secure the free end of eachwing member against the inner surface of the bottle, and reverselongitudinal movement of the nut causes the free end of each wing memberto disengage said bottle surface and permits said wing member to pivotto its retracted position, when the bottle is inverted, thereby allowingthe necklock assembly to be removed from the bottle with the toggleassembly still mounted on the elongated member and without breaking thebottle.